Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Sequester Hits History

Philip White

When we think
about the budget mess in Washington, it’s easy to focus on how it affects
what’s now and what’s next. But what’s often overlooked is how budget cuts
impact the study of the past. Or, how those cuts might shape history for current and
future generations.

Harry S. Truman's farm home in Grandview, Missouri

In the past year,
I’ve spent many a Saturday morning at the Harry S. Truman Museum and Library in
Independence, Mo., merrily panning for research gold sifting through umpteen boxes and folders. Thankfully the museum and the researcher’s reading
room/library will not be closing.

But as
of March 24, Truman’s old white-board home in Independence (which he far
preferred to the other White House he lived in, dubbing the latter, “the great white jail”)
will be closed on national holidays, Sundays and Mondays. The Noland house
across the street, which once belonged to Truman’s cousins, is being shuttered for
good. And though visitors can still mosey around the grounds of the family farm
in Grandview, Missouri, they’ll no longer be able to tour the house.

Now, it’s no
secret that the national debt has spiraled out of control. But whether you’re a
Republican, a Democrat, or anything in between or beyond, it’s not hard to see how such
closures of historical sites will adversely impact historians, dent tourism
and, most worryingly, deny children a rich learning experience. We
hear so often how
concerned politicians on both sides of the aisle are concerned about education. And
yet they’re willing to pass cuts that prevent young people from learning
the lessons of our past, so they can positively influence our future.

I can attest to the sequester's effect on history. I work for a federal agency that manages historic properties, and we have taken a significant hit. We've had to close on Sundays since federal employees are paid more that day. I will be unable to hire any seasonal help this summer instead of the three seasonals I usually hire for the busy season. We have already cancelled several special events, and more will likely have to go. The other problem with all this is that many people don't understand how the federal system works (which is understandable if you're not living it every day). Therefore, they assume we can simply take money from one area and apply it to others. Unfortunately, we usually can't. Almost 90% of our annual costs are salaries and benefits (a very normal percentage for our agency). Almost all of the rest goes to fixed costs like utilities. Therefore, cutting back on hours and events because of what we can afford to pay our employees is really the only place we can cut. So things like Sunday hours and events that normally incur a great deal of overtime and evening work (which also pays more) have to get cut so we can live within a budget that, in our case, is now about $35,000 less than it was a few weeks ago. So yes, the sequester does have real impacts to history programs, research, events, and interpretation.

Todd, I am sorry to hear about your experience. It is baffling to me how the DC politicos can justify these cuts when there is such waste and gross overspending in other areas. Perhaps that's just it - they don't justify it.

Unfortunately it's another example of the humanities getting short shrift. If it were math, science and technology programs that were feeling the pinch there would be an uproar, not least because the White House is consistently publicizing improving standards in these areas. But anything concerning English, history, philosophy and the classics is relegated to the "oh well" category.

I wish you all the best as you do continue serving history and the public in this difficult situation.